State of Secure Elements in Hardware wallets

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Hardware wallets

Name	Open Source	Secure Element	SE Model + Microcontroller	Evaluation Assurance Level
Bitbox02 Nova	YES	YES	Infineon OPTIGA Trust M (v3) + STM32…	EAL6+
Cardware	YES	YES	Optiga Trust M + STM32	EAL6+
HyperMate	YES	YES	Infineon ?	EAL6+
OneKey Classic 1S	YES	YES	THD89	EAL6+
OneKey Pro	YES	YES	TMC THD89 x4	EAL6+
Satochip/Satodime	YES	YES	NXP J3H145 and NXP J3R110	EAL6+
Trezor Safe 3	YES	YES	Infineon OPTIGA Trust M (v3) + STM32F4	NDA-free EAL6+ !
Trezor Safe 5	YES	YES	Infineon OPTIGA Trust M (v3) + STM32U5	NDA-free EAL6+ !
Trezor Safe 7	YES	YES	Infineon OPTIGA Trust M (v3) + TROPIC01	NDA-free EAL6+ !
Cypherock X1	YES	YES	ATECC608A+NXP JCOP3 and ARM Cortex-M	EAL5+ outdated chip 608A
KeyStone	YES	YES	ARM Cortex-M0	EAL5+
Bitbox02	YES	YES	ATECC608B + ATSAMD51J20A	N/A
Era wallet	YES	YES	ATECC608B or ATECC608C + STM32H753	N/A
Hito	YES	YES	nRF5340	N/A
Jade	YES	Virtual*	N/A	N/A
Jade Plus	YES	Virtual*	N/A + ESP32-S3	N/A
Keepkey	YES	NO	N/A + STM32	N/A
KeyStone3 (Pro)	YES	YES	ATECC608B + Maxim DS28S60 (+ Maxim MAX32520)	EAL?
Passport Core	YES	YES	ATECC608C + STM32…	N/A
Passport Prime	YES	YES	ATECC608C + SAMA5D2 processor	N/A
Prokey	YES	NO	N/A + STM32F205VG	N/A
Trezor One & T	YES	NO	N/A + STM32F2/STM32F4	N/A
ColdCard Mk3	NO (MIT+CC)	YES	ATECC608B or ATECC608A + STM32L496RGT6	outdated chip 608A
ColdCard Mk4	NO (MIT+CC)	YES	ATECC608B+Maxim DS28C36B + STM32L4S5VIT6	N/A
ColdCard Q	NO (MIT+CC)	YES	ATECC608B+Maxim DS28C36B + STM32…	N/A
CoolWallet Pro	NO (soon Y)	YES	NXP J3R110	EAL6+
CoolWallet S	NO (soon Y)	YES	NXP P5CD081	EAL5+
D’CENT	NO	YES	NXP P60	EAL5+
Hashwallet	N/A	YES	Infineon SLE78	EAL6+
Husky HDW20	NO	YES	ATECC608A	outdated chip
ImKey	NO	YES	Infineon SLE 78CLUFX5000PH	EAL6+
Jubiterwallet	NO	YES	Infineon ?	EAL6+
Kasse HK-1000	NO	YES	ST31H320 A03	EAL5+
Keevo	NO	YES	Infineon Optiga Trust-P	EAL5+
KeyPal	N/A	YES	NXP MCU + ?	N/A
Ledger Nano Gen5	NO	YES	ST33K1M5 + ?	EAL6+
Ledger Nano S Plus	NO	YES	ST33K1M5C + STM32…	EAL6+
Ledger Nano X	NO	YES	ST33J2M0 + STM32WB55	EAL5+
Ledger Stax / Flex	NO	YES	ST33K1M5 + ?	EAL6+
Ngrave	N/A	YES	unknown built-in SE + STM32MP157C	EAL7+
Opolo	NO	YES	NXP ? + ARM Cortex M4	EAL6+
Safepal S1;X1	NO	YES	Unknown chip	EAL5+
Secux	NO	YES	Infineon SLE 97	EAL5+
Tangem	NO	YES	Samsung SecureCore microchip ?	EAL6+
Ledger Nano S	NO	YES	ST31H320 + STM32F042K6	EAL5+
OneKey Classic	YES	YES	HSC32I1	EAL6+*/EAL 4+
OneKey Mini	YES	YES	ATECC608A	outdated chip
OneKey Touch	YES	YES	ATECC608A	outdated chip

Source

Common Criteria EAL (Evaluation Assurance Level) Explained

The Common Criteria defines 7 evaluation assurance levels (EAL1-EAL7), each representing increasing levels of security testing and assurance:

EAL1 - Functionally Tested

• Assurance: Minimal, basic functional testing
• Analysis: Review of functional specification and some independent testing
• Use case: Low security requirements, off-the-shelf products
• Effort: Lowest cost and time

EAL2 - Structurally Tested

• Assurance: Low to moderate security
• Analysis: Requires design documentation, developer testing evidence, and independent vulnerability analysis
• Use case: General commercial products with basic security needs
• Effort: Still relatively low cost

EAL3 - Methodically Tested and Checked

• Assurance: Moderate security
• Analysis: Development environment controls, configuration management, more rigorous testing
• Use case: Security-conscious commercial applications
• Effort: Moderate investment required

EAL4 - Methodically Designed, Tested and Reviewed

• Assurance: Moderate to high security
• Analysis: Complete design documentation, security architecture analysis, extensive independent testing
• Use case: Most common level for commercial security products (smart cards, firewalls, VPNs, hardware wallets)
• Effort: Significant but practical for commercial products

EAL5 - Semiformally Designed and Tested

• Assurance: High security
• Analysis: Semi-formal design verification, advanced vulnerability analysis, covert channel analysis
• Use case: High-security applications, military/government systems
• Effort: Very high cost and time, requires specialized expertise

EAL6 - Semiformally Verified Design and Tested

• Assurance: Very high security
• Analysis: Semi-formal verification of design against specification, comprehensive independent testing
• Use case: Ultra-high security environments, critical infrastructure
• Effort: Extremely high cost, rarely achieved in practice

EAL7 - Formally Verified Design and Tested

• Assurance: Extremely high security (highest level)
• Analysis: Formal mathematical proof of security properties, complete formal verification
• Use case: Theoretical maximum security, rarely if ever achieved in commercial products
• Effort: Prohibitively expensive, requires formal methods expertise

Practical Context for Hardware Wallets

• EAL4 is the “sweet spot” - provides good security assurance while remaining commercially viable
• EAL5+ certification is extremely rare and expensive, typically only justified for military/government applications
• Higher EAL ≠ more secure product - it means more rigorous evaluation process, not necessarily better security design
• Many modern secure elements in hardware wallets target EAL5+ or EAL6+ certification (e.g., CC EAL6+, AVA_VAN.5)
• NDA-free EAL6+ (like Trezor Safe series) means the certification was achieved without requiring non-disclosure agreements, allowing for true transparency

The choice of the AI

Asking Claude AI to look at the open-source wallets in this file, it would consider the Trezor Safe series (Safe 3, Safe 5, and Safe 7) to be the most secure for these reasons:

1. NDA-free EAL6+ Certification - This is unique and crucial: - EAL6+ is the highest practical certification level - “NDA-free” means no non-disclosure agreements were required - Complete transparency - no hidden security compromises - Aligns perfectly with open-source principles
2. Proven Secure Elements: - Infineon OPTIGA Trust M (v3) - industry-leading, well-audited chip - Safe 7 adds TROPIC01 - an open-source RISC-V chip (even more transparency!)
3. Progressive Hardware: - Safe 3: STM32F4 microcontroller - Safe 5: STM32U5 microcontroller (newer) - Safe 7: TROPIC01 open-source chip (most advanced)

Other Strong Contenders:

• Bitbox02 Nova - Same Infineon OPTIGA Trust M (v3), EAL6+, but not NDA-free
• Satochip/Satodime - High-end NXP chips (J3H145, J3R110), EAL6+, but not NDA-free
• OneKey Pro - TMC THD89 x4, EAL6+, interesting multi-chip approach

Why NDA-free Matters:

Most EAL6+ certifications require NDAs, meaning manufacturers must keep certain security details secret. The Trezor Safe series achieved the same certification without NDAs, meaning:

• Full public disclosure is possible
• No backdoors can be hidden under “security through obscurity”
• True verifiability for the open-source community

Recommendation of the AI: Trezor Safe 7 (most advanced) or Safe 5 (proven) for maximum security in an open-source hardware wallet.